You can have my life
by AshiRoses
Summary: An alternate universe fan-fic in which Jaune is the one that shoves Pyrrha into the locker, then goes to face off against Cinder inside Beacon Tower.


In all honesty, today was probably the worst day of Jaune Arc's entire life. Not only had the Vytal Festival been sabotaged by the White Fang and some mysterious woman, not only had he bared witnessed to a woman getting murdered by some psychopath with a bow and arrow, but he had also just shoved the girl that loved him more than anything inside a locker and launched her high into air, just so he could rush off to what was most likely his last fight on Remnant.

The scene played over and over again in his mind as he ran towards Beacon Tower: Him talking, Pyrrha's fear, her lips on his, and then her hushed words.

"I'm sorry, Jaune." Jaune may not have exactly been the smartest man on Remnant, but he knew what was happening. Despite her years of training and battle prowess, if Pyrrha went toe-to-toe with that monster of a woman, then there was no way she would be coming back. So, in those few moments in between their lips unlocking and her apology, the young blonde haired man had already crafted his plan.

"No, Pyrrha. I'm sorry." Jaune placed hands on Pyrrha's hips and swiveled on the heel of his foot, then shoved her into the open locker behind him. Before she would even have the chance to use her polarity to open the locker, he pressed the coordinates into the locker's homing system.

"Jaune! No!" Pyrrha banged her fists against the locker, forgetting her semblance in a moment of pure desperation to escape.

"I'm sorry, Pyrrha. But I can't let you do this. I can't let you die!" Jaune pressed his hand against the locker's metal door.

"Pyrrha...I love you too. Please, please don't forget that." And with those quiet words, his thumb pressed the keypad's manual flight button and he took a large step back as the air filled with smoke from the locker's thrusters and Pyrrha's hopeless shouts. The young man watched as the locker flew up high into the air and disappeared towards Vale.

Finally, Jaune reached the interior of Beacon Tower and forced these recent memories outside of his mind. No use dwelling on the past, he had a mission to complete. The young knight approached the building's only elevator, staring at the wide, gaping holes in the top and bottom that rendered it completely useless.

Upon further inspection, Jaune was able to see that the elevator cable was still intact in the shaft.

"Alright, Jaune. Here we go. Time for all those rope climbing lessons with Nora to finally pay off." He bent his knees to squat down and leapt into the air, channeling his aura to help him jump. His gloved fingers grabbed onto the cable and he swiftly began to pull his way upwards towards the top.

As he ascended upwards, Jaune allowed his mind to wander momentarily to think of his team. He thought of Nora, and the kindness she had shown him. How she had always kept him upbeat and motivated, no matter what.

He thought of Ren next, and how the quiet, complicated young man had always been by his side. Naturally, being the only two men on the team, they had gotten to know each other incredibly well. For a moment, Jaune felt regret that he would never get to say goodbye to Ren, or Nora for that matter. However, he pushed the thought away. He couldn't bear to fight with that weight on his mind.

And finally, he thought of Pyrrha: His truest friend, his first love, even if he had always been too afraid to admit it, and, of course, his final goodbye.

Jaune wasn't an idiot, he knew that going up into the tower was suicide. But if he could save just one person from his fate, if he could spare Pyrrha from having to sacrifice herself like he was about to, then that would be enough. Finally, Jaune arrived at the top of the elevator shaft and stared at the shut doors that led to Professor Ozpin's office.

Expertly balancing himself with only one hand on the cable, he pulled out his sword with his right hand and pointed it's tip downwards. Jaune took a calming breath in and felt his mysterious semblance activate.

He felt power and strength well up inside him, as he let go of the cable and leapt into the air. Jaune placed both hands on the sword's leather wrapped handle and let out his breath of air into a empowering shout as his blade collided with the closed doors and caused them to burst open. As the dust settled, he quickly grabbed and unfolded his shield, instantly taking up the stance that he and Pyrrha had gone over a thousand times since he had come to Beacon.

Glass heels clicked as the only other person in the room turned around to face him. Her eyes burned with curiosity as she stared at him, before letting out a dry laugh. "Is this all the great 'Beacon Academy' has left to offer? A nobody knight with a hand-me-down sword and a laughably pitiful fold-up shield?"

Jaune gulped as he raised his shield higher. "How did you...N-Nevermind." He raised his sword to show his intention. "I've come to stop you: From attacking Ozpin, from destroying Beacon, and from hurting anyone else!"

The woman simply laughed again, placing her fingertips over her pale, red lips. "Oh, but poor boy, dear Ozpin is already dead." She raised her hand up, her open palm facing upwards as she ignited a plume of flame. "I killed him, down there in his and Amber's shared tomb."

Jaune gritted his teeth as he moved out to the side to get away from elevator. "That was her name, huh? Of you woman you murdered? Her name was Amber..." He pursed his lips.

"Murdered? I'd hardly call what I did murder." The fire plume disappeared from her hand as she leaned back and rested her hands on Ozpin's desk. "She was being kept alive by machinery and some weak aura manipulation, nothing more. If anything, I saved her from a life of misery, of barely clinging to life as she wasted away inside a metal box!"

It was now that Jaune finally noticed the gigantic, dragon-like Grimm outside the building. It's claws and massive body shook the tower as it growled and howled in agreement with Cinder, seemingly being able to understand what she had said. The young knight gave a small jump as the monster roared, greatly humoring Cinder as she pushed her back up off the desk.

"Now, as much as I've enjoyed this 'stimulating' conversation, I believe it's time for you to play the part of the good little huntsman and hold still while I incinerate you." She held her arm out and pointed her open palm out at Jaune, preparing to obliterate him.

The blonde knight reacted quickly, he boosted the aura level around his feet and arms, then raised his shield to protect his upper body. The fire was scorching hot and all consuming as it burst forth and showered over Jaune's shield and lower half. Despite the slight twinge of pain he was feeling,he planted one of his feet backwards and moved forward against the onslaught.

The fire stopped suddenly as Cinder reared her arm backwards and took a small step forward. She grabbed the top of Jaune's shield and delivered a powerful, flame assisted blow to the shield's center, causing Jaune to stumble backwards. However, Jaune took advantage of his lose of balance and spun completely around on the balls of his feet to face Cinder once again, simultaneously raising his sword to bring it down against the woman's small frame.

Downward slash, upward strike, and double handed blow. Jaune went over the sword techniques in his mind as he watched them play out, delivering three successful hits to Cinder's unarmored body. The woman moved backwards to escape his flurry of attacks, her glass heels clicking all the way.

With a powerful shout, Jaune turned his blade tip towards the ground, wrapped both his hands around his sword's handle, and activated his semblance once gain. He struck the blade into the floor of the headmaster's office and watched in astonishment, surprised at his own power, as Cinder, Ozpin's desk, and many other small items were thrown around the room. Jaune wretched his sword from the floor and readied his shield once again.

Cinder, dazed by Jaune's impressive power, rose up from the floor where had been thrown. Perhaps Cinder would have to use more of her newly gained power than she originally thought. With an icy glare on her face, she activated her Maiden powers and rose up into the air, fire burning beneath her feet. Then, almost as if she was flying, Cinder burst forward and tackled Jaune into the stone wall far behind him.

The blonde knight felt the wind get knocked out of him as his back made rough contact with the stone wall. However, despite the pain in his chest and throat, Jaune tried to keep his wits about him as he recalled more and more from his practice lessons with his team. Taking only a moment to allow Cinder's to extinguish and her body to float down to the ground, he planted his foot against the wall and rammed his shield into Cinder's gut as he used his semblance to increase his strength once again.

Jaune was successfully able to shove Cinder away from him, but was almost unprepared as she launched another powerful blast of orange tinged flames at him. He rolled to the left, barely escaping the fury of the flames, and bum rushed the faux Maiden with his shield once again.

However, Cinder was prepared this time and batted his shield away with a wave of his hand, almost knocking it out of his grip. She wrapped her delicate, yet powerful fingers around that leather straps that bound his armor to his chest and torso, then ignited them with her flames.

The leather burned and frayed away instantly, succumbing to flame the instant they were lit. Trying to escape his burning armor, Jaune attempted to keep his panic at bay as he used his thumbs to lift his chest piece up over his head and throw it to the ground beside him. Taking advantage of his distractedness, Cinder forced her hand into a tight fist and unleashed a single, yet powerful bolt of flame at Jaune's protective shield.

The knight fell backwards, sliding across the floor from the sheer power of his opponent's pyrokinesis. He rolled over onto his hands and knees and gasped, feeling the pieces of his hood and jeans had literally been burnt away. As Cinder watched him arise, halfway amused with the performance he had given her so far, her eyes trailed down to his exposed hoodie. Now without the armor over it, she could quite clearly make out the fluffy looking, brown colored mascot on the hoodie's center.

She let out a huff of air that sounded somewhere between a laugh and a dry chuckle. "Is that...a rabbit on your shirt?" Cinder pointed a finger at the long eared animal on Jaune's hoodie, obviously bemused by the idea of a teenaged boy wearing a shirt with a little bunny on it.

Jaune's brow furrowed as he stood up and took a few shaky steps forward. "It's not just any bunny-" He took a large step forward and flung his shield at the faux Maiden. The woman's amber eyes widened in surprise as she swiped the shield away. However, the shield wasn't the true attack. As Cinder batted the shield across the room, Jaune raised his sword high over his head and ran towards her. "It's Pumpkin Pete!"

As Jaune's sword made contact, a cloud of dust covered the entire room. For a few moments, the room was completely silent, until the dust finally settled. Cinder's hands were wrapped around the blade of Jaune's sword, stopping it just shy of making contact with her face. She gritted her teeth and felt her hands grow incredibly hot, but not quick enough.

Outside, the Grimm dragon could sense Cinder's desperation to defeat the blonde knight. So, it launched itself off Beacon Tower and glided back a ways, before flying full speed towards the tower. Jaune was just feeling like he could actually win the fight, until his eyes caught movement outside the many glass windows and he saw the best flying towards him.

That slight loss of concentration was all Cinder needed as she increased the heat of her hands those few precious degrees and shattered Jaune's blade into pieces, just as the Grimm dragon swerve to avoid hitting the building entirely. One of it's massive wings grazed the side. The entire roof, as well as a large portion of the wall, was knocked away.

Cinder took advantage of the destruction and confusion that surrounded her as she kicked her leg high into the air and struck Jaune directly in his jaw with the heel of her shoe. The blonde was knocked up into the air from the sheer force of the kick and felt himself being thrown towards the stone wall once again as Cinder brought her leg back down and delivered a fire imbued punch to his gut.

Jaune slammed into the stone wall, his aura appearing in a few bright flashes of yellow. His aura was nearing the end of it's rope, and he could certainly begin to feel the effects of Cinder's attacks. Despite this, the blonde pushed himself to keep going onward. As he slammed to the ground with a grunt of pain, Jaune performed a quick forward roll and grabbed wildly at his shield.

He was able to reach it and bring it around front just in time to protect himself from a glossy, black arrow. The dark arrow imbedded itself in the center of his shield, with it's shooter watching in pure distaste. Cinder conjured another arrow into the bow's rest and slowly drew the string back. "Lay down your shield, boy. Then maybe I'll give you a quick death." A smile worked it's way onto Cinder's lips. "Just like Amber, you'll never even know what hit you."

Jaune gritted his teeth: He had no weapon, almost no aura, and his chances of a successful counter attack were increasingly slim. However, slim was all he needed. He quickly rose up and changed his hold on his shield, opting to simply hold one of the sides and press his palm firmly against the front. As if he were throwing a discus, Jaune planted one of his feet far back, rotated his hips out to the side, and threw his shield at Cinder.

The smile on the faux Maiden's face grew immeasurably wider as she watched the shield fly towards her. She released her hold on the bow's string and watched as it made contact with Jaune's shield. The arrow seemingly shattered into a hundred tiny pieces as it sailed through the shield and found purchase deep inside Jaune stomach.

The knight sank to his knees as he clutched uselessly at the arrow imbedded in his gut-The precise shot having obliterated what was left of his aura and leaving him completely defenseless.

Cinder's glass heels clicked quiet as she waltz from the room's center to where Jaune laid, still groaning and attempting to muster up enough aura to fight back. She frowned lightly at the sight and spoke;

"How does it feel? Knowing that you've died for nothing? That all you've built and all you've protected will come crashing down on top of you?" Cinder raised her bow and used her semblance to fix another arrow into the rest. Slowly, almost agonizingly slowly, she drew the draw back.

In those few moments, Jaune saw his entire life flash before: His first memory of seeing his mother and father, growing up alongside his seven sisters, forging his transcripts, meeting Ruby, and Pyrrha, and his teammates, and finally, joining Beacon to become a huntsman, a real hero.

Jaune could feel his lifeblood leaving him, draining right out of his stomach and onto the stone floor below. Despite this, he somehow found the strength to raise his head up and stare into Cinder's burning, amber eyes. He could feel the strength, the power that she emanated, but he still spoke.

"Not die..." Jaune shook his head.

 **"Sacrifice."**

Cinder felt her arm go weak for a moment, tears appearing in her eyes. "How pitiful. To die as someone else's sacrifice." She let go of the draw string and the arrow ripped through the air. It tore through Jaune's hoodie easily enough, burning the fabric of it's self made entryway to ashes, but found some difficulty breaking through his sternum and spine. However, it successfully worked it's way through and the pitch black tip appeared directly in between Jaune's shoulder blades.

Jaune brought a hand up to chest, gasping for air that would never come and trying to form words that would never be spoken. Cinder made her bow dissipate into nothing as she took a step forward and cupped Jaune's chin. She craned her head to the side as she felt her Maiden powers well up once again and she immolated Jaune's body, reducing his entire being to ashes in mere moments.

The faux Maiden removed her hand and Jaune's ashes were instantly swept away, carried off somewhere by a simple errant breeze. Now that was handled, Cinder could switch her focus towards-

 **"JAUNE!"**

Ruby's voice cut through everything, as if a knife. It seemed as if time itself halted for her as everything turned a sickly white.

"WHAT?!" The last thing Cinder Fall could process before her entire body felt the worst pain it had ever experienced was the Grimm dragon's roar of confusion and the young rose's cry of anguish for her fallen friend...


End file.
